1 KingsChapter 17

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¹Now Elijah was from Tishbe. He lived among the settlers of Gilead. He said to Ahab, "I serve the LORD, the God of Israel. As surely as he lives, there will be no dew or rain in the next few years unless I say so!" ²Then a message from the LORD came to Elijah. He said, ³"Leave this place and go east. Hide by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan River. ⁴You will drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." ⁵So Elijah did what the LORD told him. He went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. ⁶The ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and evening. And he drank from the brook. ⁷But after a while the brook dried up. There had been no rain in the land. ⁸Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah. He said, ⁹"Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon. Stay there. Look, I have commanded a widow there to take care of you." ¹⁰So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. Elijah called to her, "Please bring me a little water in a cup so I can drink." ¹¹As she was going to get it, he called to her, "Please bring me a piece of bread too." ¹²But she answered, "As surely as the LORD your God lives, I don't have any bread. I only have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I'm gathering a few sticks to take home. I'll make a meal for myself and my son. We'll eat it, and then we'll die." ¹³Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do what you said. But first make me a small loaf of bread from what you have. Bring it out to me. After that, make some for yourself and your son. ¹⁴For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up. The jug of oil will not run dry. It will last until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.'" ¹⁵So she went and did what Elijah said. And there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. ¹⁶The jar of flour was not used up, and the jug of oil did not run dry. It happened just as the LORD had said through Elijah. ¹⁷Later, the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. He got worse and worse. At last he stopped breathing. ¹⁸The woman said to Elijah, "Man of God, what have you done to me? Did you come here to remind me of my sin? Did you come to make my son die?" ¹⁹But Elijah said to her, "Give me your son." He took the boy from her arms. He carried him up to the upstairs room where he was staying. He laid him on his own bed. ²⁰Then he cried out to the LORD, "LORD my God, this widow has opened her home to me. Have you brought trouble on her too by letting her son die?" ²¹Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the LORD, "LORD my God, please let this boy's life come back to him!" ²²The LORD heard Elijah's cry. The boy's life came back to him, and he lived. ²³Elijah picked up the boy. He carried him down from the upstairs room into the house. He gave him to his mother. "Look, your son is alive!" Elijah said. ²⁴Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God. I know that the word of the LORD you speak is true."